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In my opinion the best social blog post for 2013 has already been written – this being Cape Town’s David Moseley’s contribution on 8 January, entitled “We all killed Burry Stander” – following the tragic death of yet another cyclist on South African roads. Moseley admonishes that, because so many South Africans express a wilful disregard for road rules and etiquette, our collective arrogance (and overwhelming, mind-numbing stupidity) makes each and every road user complicit in the daily carnage that occurs on our roads.

The common excuse for running red lights, not even pausing at stop signs, overtaking on unbroken white lines and etc is equal purile – the lack of traffic officials and policing of road users is to blame! Oh please, could a more ridiculous excuse be dreamt up? Are South Africans so weak-minded that unless someone waves a stick at them they simply cannot find it in themselves to have respect and compassion for others – and go about their daily business accordingly?

We often hear that the majority ANC party and its leader have lost their moral compass. While this is true, they are not entirely to blame – after all, who voted them into power in the first place? All South Africans have a hand on the nation’s moral compass and we cannot continually hide behind blaming someone or some group for the nation’s woes. The success or failure of any nation is based on collective responsibility and compassion for others – any other attitude is simply parasitic.